3rd successful batch, but still confused lol

[larudy]

today i made a batch im not sure how many lbs ( 6 cavity mold and a full ice cube tray) of mint chocolate cp/

this is my 3rd batch of soap i have made,
the first i made with chai tea,olive oil and an apple fo, no coloring as i am so new to soap making that i havent even began to experiment with colors, im just happy to get a soap that solidifies enough for me to unmold and let it sit(lol)
anyways the first batch ended up like a light brown color with some dark brown streaks(not heavy streaks but its pretty, im thinking it has to do with the tea) its solidify to where i can put the bars out on my paper and i have them sitting out hopefully they harden a little more i have been flipping them (24 hr they were in the mold)

the second batch i made was- coconut milk, coconut oil, olive oil, cocoa butter, oatmeal and a lavender fo.
this was a loaf with a 5lb recipe (it came out to end up 10 large bars since i cut it, the mold was more wide than height)
this recipe turned a nice i wanna say orangish brown color its pretty it seems to have a yellowish undertone or perhaps we could call it like a dark cream color.

this last batch i have made is a milk chocolate mint, i used goats milk, olive oil, sunflower oil, essense of peppermint, and cocao powder.
these bars smell like a york peppermint patty (strong mint with a chocolate undertone) they turned out so far a very dark brown almost black. im dont know if it will lighten a bit once it has sat over night?

anyways what i am confused about so far is ( i dont think i have done this) but i was wondering how would you know if you were burning the milk with the lye?

if i did get coloring what would make a dark soap like mine lighten enough to be able to color it?

where could i get coloring, or what coloring do you think would be good for cold process soap? ( ive googled everywhere says something different; labcolors, mica, liquid colors, TD etc)

im so new to this. so after my soap has been in the mold 24 hours, how long should i let it sit to 'cure' before i can store it away somewhere. or do i even have to let it sit out for the excess liquid/oil to be absorbed or whatnot.

does olive oil really take longer to solidify, what could i substitute for then that would be faster?

i read on here about gelling. my first soap did gell but the whole thing gelled, is this good? is it necessary for every batch i make to gell?

its 2am where i live so im kinda forgot what else i wanted to ask, but if i remember i will post more

im actually quite happy that i havent run into any large problems so far *knock on wood* i have so far been successful from the start with creating a soap that will saponify *woot woot*

 

[Susie]

OK, the first thing I noticed in what you wrote is that you don't know your batch size. This instantly tells me you are not using a lye calculator, because if you were, you would know your batch size. This is the first thing you need to learn. This is not optional. You MUST learn to use this before making more soap. Typos happen, and people who make soap from un-checked recipes get bad soap.

This is a wonderful tutorial by LunaSkye. It is thorough and easy to follow and understand.(Thank you yet again, LunaSkye!)

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=49627

Moving on from there. You need to let your batches cure at least 4 weeks to test them. Then you will know whether that recipe was good or not. No use making more batches of a bad recipe.

We are going to need your exact recipes(in volume amounts, not percentages), including water and lye amounts to begin to troubleshoot your recipes, but the second batch is probably orange from over heated coconut milk. And the third batch will not lighten, cocoa powder darkens as the bars age, not lighten. Use less cocoa powder.

 

[shunt2011]

Also, you should not be making large batches to start out. Primarily beacause if you make a mistake it's a big one. I would recommend making 2lb batches to start. Also, you should be measuring in grams and absoutely need to be using a soap calculator. Not an option.

If you post your recipe(s) we would be happy to help out. You also need to zap test your soaps to make sure they are safe. Especially if following someone elses recipes and not checking them in a soap calc.

Welcome to the forum.

 

[snappyllama]

Howdy and welcome! I'll second what the others have said... learn to use a lye calculator and consider making small recipes. It's a great way to reduce the damage if something doesn't work out or if you just don;t like the end result. Also, it's great for trying out lots of different things without using up all your supplies!

For colorants, I personally prefer micas because they come in a gazillion colors and are very versatile. You can color your batch, make pencil lines with them, add a bit of oil to them and swirl on top of your soap, etc. You might also want to pick up some titanium dioxide (to lighten). It will not also fix an FO that contains vanillin (vanilla) which will naturally darken your soap (more FOs do than you would think), but it is great for changing up the colors you do have!

Once your soap is hard enough to cut into bars without smooshing, you'll want to do that. The time frame really depends on how soft your recipes is, how much water you used, and whether you used salt/sodium lactate to harden it up. Just be patient. Once cut, you'll want to let it cure for at least 4 weeks - though you can start testing samples every week. I like to flip my bars and test a bit of an end piece every week. I weigh the same piece to check how much water has evaporated and then wash with a scrap. It's amazing how differently recipes behave while they cure. Keep good notes.

Recipes with a lot of soft oils (liquid at room temperature), will take longer to harden. Some oils (like olive oil) will also take harder to cure before making a good bar... Example: 100% olive oil soap is called Castille and is traditionally cured for an entire year. Each oil brings different properties to soap... I suggest looking into that to get a good idea behind those recipes you've been trying.

As for gelling, it is a matter of personal preference. I tend not to, because I like milk soaps (which can overheat). Also, I live in a cold area where I would have to force it. Here's my favorite youtube teacher talking more about gel.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHD7aC4t75w[/ame]

 

[larudy]

;-) this is the recipe i used.

• 22 ounces olive oil (71%)
• 8 ounces coconut oil (26%) (if allergic to coconut oil, see substitution note below)
• 1 ounce sunflower(3%)
• 12 ounces milk (cow, goat, almond, coconut, etc)
• 4.3 ounces of lye (6% superfat)
• 2 to 3 tablespoons peppermint
  
• 2 teaspoons cocoa powder

but i think i got a lil excited on cocoa powder (a lil extra)
this morning the bars look like a deep dark chocolate i think its pretty. ill take pic of it when i get them out the mold later tonight.


and update is the 1st batch ( olive oil mainly) hardened a little, but still a little soft side for my liking, but we havent hit 48 hr.


second batch (coconut oil, cocoa butter, olive oil) has pretty much hardened complete like a bar of soap.


last batch- (sunflower oil, coconut oil, olive oil) is still in the mold, i can pull the mold away from the soaps easily but im still going to wait until the 24 hour mark to unmold.

and i know i know grams is better didnt know that when i was cookin, but now i know lol. i was precise though im a perfectionist .

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

What are those other recipes as %'s?

Did you check them on a lye calculator as well?

 

[larudy]

yeah i put the numbers through the calculator i just dont know how to make my own recipe with a calculaytor hence why i am using someone elses recipes lol.

 

[marilynmac]

I think you might be doing too much at once. Pick one of the recipies, then change one thing about it so you can see how that change affected the resulting soap.

example: batch 1 is 500g OO, 300g lard, and 200g CO. You want to see what a higher % lard will do, so you do the next batch 500g OO, 500g lard, and 200g CO. (adjust lye too). then compare the 2 batches at 1 week, 3 weeks, 5 weeks.

Also, milk and FO's can do weird things to your soap so you might want to stay away from them for a while.

 

[larudy]

ew and i just licked the soaps and they taste like soap lol

 

[larudy]

heres two pics

 

[larudy]

the second pic was my first batch i did its a little cracking, and hard enough to pick up but still soft im assuming because i used mostly olive oil, and because i made it outside, and had left it outside for a few hours before bringing it in (its real cold outside, where i have them inside is warm i have a gas heater) so im thinking it cooled too quick which caused cracks

 

[larudy]

and i tried to put my own recipe in the soap calc and everything is within normal ranges except ins is about 25 over the highest "range" they have, what does this mean?

i put in
60% CO
32 % OO
and 8% Sunflower oil

water to lye ratio is
12.16 oz water to 4.99 oz lye

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

That might be more CO than most people could stand! ~Unless you're going for a hefty SF, try keeping the CO under 25%. Use lard or palm for the other amount as a good starting point.

 

[larudy]

could i use so instead of palm lol dont have palm on hand currently.

 

[larudy]

this what i see so will adjust as needed lol

 

[larudy]

or this is the one i originally told you about

 

[larudy]

i would like a harder bar though

 

[Confused_Penguin]

You can try using brambleberry lye calculator to come up with your recipe. Here is the link

http://www.brambleberry.com/pages/Lye-Calculator.aspx

 

[Susie]

Soap tasting like soap, not zappy like a battery is wonderful! At least we know one batch is not lye heavy.

 

[Susie]

OK, stop and take a breath. Let's work on one recipe at the time.

The first thing you need to know is that coconut oil over 20% of a recipe can be really drying. So start there.
Second, you can't substitute oils out without changing how the soap is going to turn out. Substituting sunflower oil for palm is not going to work. You need another "solid at room temperature" oil like lard or tallow to substitute for palm.

A good starter recipe is this:

Coconut oil 20%
Lard/Palm/Tallow 50%
Olive or other liquid at room temperature oil 30%

Or, if you want more lather, use 25% liquid oils with 5% castor oil.

I would not add any milks until you get a good base recipe that you like and know is reliable.

This will give you a good bar that is hard enough to unmold and cut at 18-24 hours.